Temper

Boom!

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Cracks spread across all three walls at once. No one knew what kind of attack it had used.

All that was clear was that the next second—

all three walls shattered at once!

Bang!

This time, it finally broke out!

Thud—

Just as it was about to charge out, it slammed straight into an invisible wall.

"Protective Barrier (LV:201)"

Although it was called Protective Barrier,

it could be cast outward, too.

After all, it had evolved from Hardened Barrier, and all versions of the skill were compatible.

Just like Lu Cang could use both Ice Shuttles and Ice Spikes.

It had just broken out of the heavy walls, only to run into a barrier.

Before it could break through the barrier, the three heavy walls rose again.

"Human! Are you ever going to stop?!"

It was pretty intelligent.

It knew that if it broke through all three heavy walls at once, Lu Cang might not have time to replace them.

But it was wrong.

His magic used triple casting, so all three walls were summoned at the same time.

He could replace them in time, too.

But Lu Cang planned to use this opportunity to observe its condition.

That way, he could figure out why it was so tough.

He took one look and more or less understood.

Its body was made of blood, and it was constantly drawing in more. Blood kept surging up from beneath the throne, pouring into its body.

Every attack Lu Cang landed

also consumed its blood.

So, did it have any weaknesses?

Lu Cang glanced into the distance...

Never mind. First, he'd tear this whole room apart.

The altar came first.

Lu Cang stopped aiming his earthfire directly at the boss and instead unleashed it in the middle of the room!

Boom!

Molten rock burst outward!

Giant spikes erupted from the ground!

Sharp stones rained down from the sky.

"Skyfall (Second Tier) (LV:201)"

Lu Cang wasn't just raising the levels of his old spells. Over the past few days, he'd also made a point of seeking out new magic to learn.

He made progress every day.

In an instant, he blasted the intact altar into pieces!

Pfft!

He hadn't even finished one round of carpet bombing

when he heard the sound of blood spraying and flesh tearing in the distance.

It worked?

That fast?

Sure enough, exploiting a mechanic was faster than just brute force.

But the very next moment—

Boom!

One of the heavy walls shattered in an instant!

Then the barrier in front of it shattered, too!

Pfft!

A streak of blood shot straight toward Lu Cang.

So fast!

And so powerful!

No way.

Had it gone berserk?

Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have messed around.

Lu Cang cursed inwardly, but his hands didn't slow down!

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

Twelve heavy walls sprang up in the passage in front of him, with three layers of barriers at the very front.

Lu Cang canceled the heavy walls protecting Loth and the others, using them all to protect himself instead.

He'd been in a narrow passage the whole time.

If the enemy wanted to kill him, it had to get through the passage!

Boom!

The boss slammed into the barrier!

Blood sprayed in every direction!

But it also shattered all three overlapping barriers in an instant!

Damn!

Was its damage really that high?

Bang!

Before the boss could hit the heavy walls, three more barriers appeared at once!

Boom!

It swung its arms in a frenzy, smashing them furiously!

The three barriers shattered again!

This time, its attack struck the heavy walls!

Its powerful force actually smashed through two walls in a row!

But almost at the same time, the barriers appeared again!

As they formed, the two heavy walls that had just been smashed apart were already restored.

Rumble!

Earthfire, Ice Shuttles, Wind Swarm, Thunder Flash, Holy Judgment Cross, Water Whip Blade, Poison Vine Entwine—a whole string of spells came crashing down!

Come on!

You want to fight? Let's fight!

Let's see if you can attack faster than I can defend!

Lu Cang was getting fired up, too.

With two God-Tier Talents, after holding back for so long, couldn't he solo you?

If I can't solo you, how many things in this world can I beat?

Being cautious didn't mean Lu Cang had no temper.

He was cautious because he wanted to keep a low profile and develop until he was invincible. Otherwise, if he died before he'd grown strong, wouldn't all that effort have gone to waste?

But if I've spent this long getting stronger and still can't beat one little boss, then what the hell was the point of all that development?

King-tier Demonic Beasts weren't at the pinnacle of the world.

If I can't beat you, who can I beat?

Oh, right.

I want to save them not for some complicated reason. It's simply because I think this is within my abilities.

I think I can take you down, so I came to save them. If this were a seventh- or eighth-tier dungeon, how could I possibly set foot inside?

At the end of the day, it's because I don't think you can kill me!

Lu Cang's mind suddenly cleared!

And his spells came faster and faster!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Lightning storms, eruptions of fire, pillars of force—

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

Blood sprayed everywhere, and the heavy walls rose in layer after layer.

At the same time, violent winds roared!

The moment the boss tried to charge in, the storm blasted it straight back out!

"Repelling Wind Blast (LV:201)—Forced repulsion, knockback spell, increased wind damage"

After blasting it away, Lu Cang rebuilt his defenses.

One man and one monster faced each other, trading blows head-on.

Lu Cang was still in perfect condition.

The boss, on the other hand, was clearly in bad shape. Blood kept spraying from its body, and it seemed to be shrinking little by little.

What kind of monster was this mage?

He used spells I'd never seen before.

And why could he keep casting without chanting?

How could he cast so many spells? Was his mana infinite?!

He'd even drained the blood pool dry!

Even after I went all out and entered a state of Blood Frenzy, I still couldn't break through his defenses?

Barriers...

Damn those barriers! How did they form so fast?

And those walls, too!

And all that wind!

I'd finally smashed through two walls and managed to advance a couple of steps, only for the storm to blast me away. I couldn't even get close!

I'd put everything I had into one strike, and all I could do was break through a few layers of barriers.

And that human child—

all he did was look at me with that cold, dismissive gaze, as if I were some boring piece of trash.

I'm boring trash?

I, the Blood Origin King, am boring trash?

"I'm not trash!"

"You're the trash, human!"

"You're the trash!"

Whoosh!

The blood smeared across the walls, scattered across the floor, and spread throughout the room rushed toward it all at once!

But a thunderous rumble erupted from every direction!

The violent winds instantly scattered all the blood being drawn in!

How could I let the enemy get what it wanted?

It was obvious the thing was about to power up. There was no way I'd let it have an easy time absorbing blood...

Whoosh!

Ice Shuttles streaked through the air, freezing the blood.

Earthfire erupted, and fireballs burst apart!

Vaporizing the blood!

In short, he wasn't going to let it absorb blood in peace.

As for whatever it was babbling about... Lu Cang wasn't interested.

Monsters were monsters. It was normal for them to bark a few times.

He could just ignore that kind of meaningless talk.

From beginning to end,

Lu Cang didn't say a word.

Only the Blood Origin King roared and raged, making it look even more like a useless failure!

But...

Facing Lu Cang, it truly had no way to turn things around.

The blood pool had really been completely drained by Lu Cang. It had nothing left to draw on, and even its final outburst hadn't managed to break through Lu Cang's turtle-like defenses.

What was the point of this mage making his defenses so strong?

Why defend himself so thoroughly!

It had planned to use its blood pool to exhaust Lu Cang's magic power. After all, he was a mage.

For any mage, magic power was a weakness.

What mage had an endless supply of magic power?

What mage could keep casting spells without stopping?

If it just kept wearing him down, eventually his magic power would run out.

But even as it lay dying...

It still had no idea when Lu Cang's magic power would reach its limit.

Whoosh!

Scorching underground fire covered it once more.

Clang—

This time, the sound of armor hitting the ground rang out.

It no longer towered like a king. It fell to the ground, and the blood that made up its body stopped holding together and seeped into the earth.

All that remained on the ground was its armor and a few dazzling, crystalline beads of blood.

Only then did Lu Cang let out a sigh of relief.

Good grief, it was finally dead.

That thing was seriously tough.

Lu Cang checked his magic power... still 3,000,000.

He hadn't lost even a bit of magic power over the course of the battle.

"Void Realm (LV: 200)—Restores 10% of magic power per second, continuously raises maximum magic power, magic absorption resistance, self-generated magic power, higher-quality magic power."

It had been roaring so loudly earlier.

He'd thought it was one of those enemies that couldn't be killed, but it turned out it could die after all.

Lu Cang looked at the armor lying on the ground...

A King-tier monster ought to drop some pretty impressive loot, right?